Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-04-30
FILINGS,

Tho world undoubtedly In moving and ID
stream Of humanity constantly drawin
closer towards the light This must b man
fest TO every careful observer In oil the OF
rlous departments Of life, but more especlall
II the truth coming 10 the surface for hir
who Keeps his finger on the public pulse q
our current literature. 1t II very true th
history OF American literature II scarcely th
child Of century,y yet during this brief PORTO,
II hes undergone ovoiutions and rsvolu
tons, 70 that today our national literature h
not only distinctively American, but at tn,
Same time, In point of advancement II rank
favorably with that Of our unces' across th,
| watern
There are various factors entering necss
sarily into . country's normal growth, suci
o. pbysicsl resources, young and pure blood
means and opportunities, etc, but havinl
all these essential conditions at hand they
after all are nothing more than clay In th,
hands OF the potter . Palissy II wanted :,
bring 1t into form and enamel II and wher,
else would you find that shsping and guild
| Ing element but In pure and healthy litera
turef II II this universal source whore bott
the young aud the old imbibe the sweet nee
tar that helps TO give fragrance and true dig
nifty 70 life. II takes the fettsred mind be
L yOuu bu0 U1fIOW CSuuu09 OI o0lJs 09tOuuO0 j
Of its own little domain, draws aside the darl
and gloomy curtains Of ignorance, opens neV
| vistas OF beauty, goodness, and truth, and II
this way incites burning zeal and . holy in
spiration 30 ~ TO forsake all that IL low ant
mean, and strive only Tor that which II high
est and bsst
| This idea 10 already having firm hold or
the American mind. The thirst tor good
| readable literature ID increasing from day u
| day, and A. the result OF sll this not only are
1 the Olh uhpaPiaa annplfaA 9th
books, but also new ones are being estab
lished, even In our smaller towns and vii.
lagos all over the country. The desire tn
read seems to have grown into some kind Of
few Of our literary pilots are looking already
on this dominant spirit with more or less tro-
pida,ion, owing to the vast amount OF chat
that always finds its way In with the wheat;
and swallowing 1t all would certainly be .
great detriment to our people On the other
hand, . lie time Is entirely too short to edu.
cate ourselves up to Standard 30 that our
own task would be sufficient TO decide what
Is to prove wholesome nourishment for the
mind and the heart, and on the other hand,
having the system once saturated with the
vile and poisOr Gus drugs now DO extensively
circulated, 1t becomes q very hard mstter to
bring about again reaction for good, and
even where TINS may be pnssibles It will
always leave some scars and weakness be-
hind. SO then there are really some reasons
fore erecting here and there Q Lighthouse
along our literary shores, 10 ss to protect and
warn our young navigAtors Ia order that they
may not get shipwrecked along the shoals
and quicksands.
rsmen Der when first started In reading
l used to be satisf fled with almost any thing
only so 1t was q book, thinking that all OF
OF them contained at least some good. And /
don't doubt one bit but there are young
men and women to day and hundreds OF
them, who may be just rs easily induced to
feast on literature iully a. poisonous TO the
soul as stI ychnine Is TO the body, - could
have been then. However, It 80 happened
that quite early In my career l met with
Washington Irving After having once
tasted his sweet and life giving visnds your
palate will soon be able to detect all that have
. sour and bitter taste. But In my case all
suit OF q decision. There are three books 1
would advise every one that II able to read to
get, viz, the Bible, . work Of Shakespeare
and . set OF Irving. These In themselves
"But" you viii say, al want more books
than these. How, then, am to select them %
a. not to get switched otf on some barren and
disease. breeding island, but rather thereby
think / would know better what kind Of {
dish could relish than even my best friend
might be able to select for me-" Undoubt
ediy there Is u grain of truth In this remark,
but there Is also truth In the fact that you
should never trifle with that which 10 pOis
Onous, be 1t ever 20 delicious TO the taste.
And that there Is Q good deal OF pernicious
literature mixed with the good would be cd.
mitted by nearly sll, and also that the best
writer's the world ever knew wrote good
deal that would leave US very little the wiser
for reading it II this then Is the case, why
not, If such thing be possible, read only the
best productions OF the best authors? "Well," "
you will reply again, ~ suppose most OF us
would endorse that rule, but there are . few
embarrassing obstacles in our way just here.
In the first piacs, who should prescribe such
Q course for me, and IN the second place,
would have to get too many books at this
much money Tor me-"
My friends, there is man over In New
York city, who has already been engaged for
years just in answering these two questions
for you, viz, to give you only the best kind
OF literature ana tor the least amount OF
money possible. He has proved himself an
able judge in publishing only standard
works aud thus proving himself Q worthy
and safe guide for Al, and 1t II no exaggeratiOu
in the least to say that he sells them cheaper
than any other man in the country, and in
this way 10 public benetactor to the poor. l
don't need to tell you hOm ! am alludiDg
to, since every one knOwsit 1t Is John b. Alden,
OF New York.
Que Of the latest aud most startling xploits
OF this literary revolutioniZsr In the art OF
book making is his " Encyclopedias OF Univer.
sal Literature" In this work he gives US the
cream OF all literature, both American and
foreign, and In nutshell, ss 1t were, since
the entire set Will be CON plete In about fifteen
volumes, and 30 rsmark ksoly cheap that 1t il
within the reach OF eli. The work, in fact, is .
library in itself. l have since carefully ex-
amined the first six volumes OF this work
and found them just supplying q long.felt
need in our literature. The work Is exactly
an answer to the two questions raised ABOVE,
viz, How to get the best literature and tor
the least amount of money? Space does not
allow me to point out what Is contained in
this work, but lot me simply state that II Is
Q compilation of the best literature that was
ever written, together with short biogrsph.
ical sketch Of each author, alphabetically ar.
ranged.
1t is true there are some few authors whose
works We would like to have complete, but
that number after all Is very small In our
days 1t would be utterly impossible to read
all the good books, both ancient and modern,
since such course would be too multifarious
aud expensive. So that there really ia de-
mand Tor such an anthology as We find in
this "Encyclopedia OF Universal Literature" +"
1t comes TO US like the warm summer
shower comes to the plants that have been
dropping on account OF having been only ar
tihcislly watered, but now again will grow
healthy and strong. WILDENsTEIN.